The computer forensic lab is a safe zone. It is a location where electronic data can be managed, preserved, and accessed in a controlled environment, where there is a reduced risk of damage or modification to the evidence, and where computer forensic examiners will have the tools close at hand that are necessary for them to elicit meaningful data from the devices that they are examining.
There are many elements to the forensic lab, including the technicians, management, the policies and procedures, the forms and checklists, the evidence inventory control, the technology, the hardware, the software, the physical location, the access rules, the supplies, and all the other elements. Each of these is designed to provide the forensic technician with the required tools and environment to meet the needs of an investigation or requests from litigation, regulators, or management of organizations that are seeking to ferret out the meaning behind activity that is documented in the usage of computers and attached systems and to preserve electronic evidence that can be presented to validate or challenge a given position.